After hitting a decade-high in 2007 at nearly 670 investigations of dangerous work-site conditions, the Bridgeport office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recorded 31 percent fewer inquiries last year, with its caseload of 460 inquiries the lowest number since 2002.
Last year”™s figures were inflated by 60 violations discovered during an inspection of Ansonia Copper & Brass Inc.”™s Waterbury plant, which resulted in more than $100,000 in penalties pending a final agreement between the company and OSHA, which is an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Job-related injuries or illnesses in Connecticut increased 1.8 percent between 2006 and 2007, to 70,800 cases on record according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was still well below the 101,600 cases recorded in 2000, however, the worst year this decade in the Constitution State.
The riskiest occupation in Connecticut appears to be garbage collection, with 38 percent of waste haulers reporting injuries on the job, well ahead of firefighters who had an injury incidence rate affecting 24 percent of the sector.
Construction contractors also suffer a high incidence of workplace injuries, particularly those who perform exterior renovations and other finishing work. Just last month, OSHA cited Domack Roofing L.L.C. for violations, claiming the Stratford-based company did not rig adequate safeguards to protect workers on a New Haven building rooftop. The company was cited 14 months ago for similar violations at a Bridgeport project.
“Falls are the number one killer in construction work,” Robert Kowalski, OSHA’s area director in Bridgeport, said in a statement. “A lack of fall protection and training leaves employees just a slip or a misstep away from a deadly or disabling plunge.”
A review of OSHA”™s penalty record shows that companies often are successful in negotiating a lower fine than that proposed by OSHA. In the case of Ansonia Copper & Brass, the agency originally proposed more than $200,000 in penalties, ultimately agreeing to carve that number in half although a final settlement had yet to be reached last week.
